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View Full Version : Wise Words from Abraham Lincoln - Effective Grassroots Strategy




jasonhlasvegas2008
11-17-2007, 12:23 AM
I am posting this because I am seeing too much destructive energy directed at the GOP establishment. I suggest we use the following strategy suggested by Abraham Lincoln:

Rather than upbraid slaveowners, Lincoln sought to comprehend their position through empathy. More than a decade earlier, he had employed a similar approach when he advised temperance advocates to refrain from denouncing drinkers in "thundering tones of anathema and denunciation, "crimination with crimination, and anathema with anathema." In a passage directed at abolitionists as well as temperance reformers, he had observed that if it was the nature of man, when told that he should be "shunned and despised," and condemned as the author "of all the vice and misery and crime in the land," to "retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart."

Though the cause be "naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel." the sanctimonious reformer could no more pierce the heart of the drinker or the slaveowner than "penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw. Such is man and so must he be understood by those who would lead him." In order to "win a man to your cause, " Lincoln explained, you must first reach his heart, "the great high road to his reason." This, he concluded, was the only road to vitory--to that glorious day "when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth."

Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Page 167

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

MsDoodahs
11-17-2007, 12:42 AM
Paging Dr. DiLorenzo...

Paging Dr. DiLorenzo...

;)

jenius
11-17-2007, 12:47 AM
Hear hear. We waste way too much time and energy freaking out about Glenn Beck the ADL and every ill-informed blogger out there.

It's only going to get worse, people. See what's happening to Romney:


As part of the poll, which began Sunday, callers have been asking voters in Iowa and New Hampshire whether they know that Romney is a Mormon, that his five sons did not serve in the military and that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible.

The callers also inquire if voters are aware that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, accepted deferments to avoid military service in Vietnam while he was on a mission with other young Mormons in France.

At the beginning of the 20-minute survey, voters are asked whether they are aware of McCain's decorated military service during Vietnam. That has led many voters to assume the poll was sponsored by the Arizona senator's campaign. But McCain's campaign immediately denounced the effort and insisted it had nothing to do with it.

"Whoever did this wanted to hurt us by implication," said Mark Salter, a senior aide to McCain. "That's why we were very forceful."

Romney's supporters have long feared that a shadowy whispering campaign would arise at some point targeting his Mormon faith. The new push poll may be the most explicit anti-Mormon message to emerge in the campaign so far.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pushpoll-nov17,1,953518.story

If we push too hard on these little issues we've faced so far, we demonstrate that we don't have the maturity to handle ourselves down the road when it's going to get a lot worse. As has been stated in other threads, Ron Paul handles these sorts of issues much better than the rest of us can. He can take care of himself. Our energy is better spent converting voters to the cause.

Pete Kay
11-17-2007, 01:09 AM
I second this. Ron Paul is on the upswing. It's time to stop acting like we are supporters of the underdog and take the position that Dr. Paul is the candidate to beat. Look at these forums are numbers increase every day. People want to win. Let's present Ron Paul's ideas not as the alternative but as the only real clear choice of reason for America. We need to keep our minds and spirits on the right track.

Aratus
01-01-2013, 03:54 PM
i indeedy really do like the very bold and grand idea of senator rand paul running in 2020 or 2016 or 2024 or 2028!

right now we are delving into the rather idealistic and radical soul of the Republican party as we seek a direction!!!

whippoorwill
01-01-2013, 04:13 PM
In the year of Uzziah's death, the Lord commissioned the prophet to go out and warn the people of the wrath to come. "Tell them what a worthless lot they are." He said, "Tell them what is wrong, and why and what is going to happen unless they have a change of heart and straighten up. Don't mince matters. Make it clear that they are positively down to their last chance. Give it to them good and strong and keep on giving it to them. I suppose perhaps I ought to tell you," He added, "that it won't do any good. The official class and their intelligentsia will turn up their noses at you and the masses will not even listen. They will all keep on in their own ways until they carry everything down to destruction, and you will probably be lucky if you get out with your life."

Isaiah had been very willing to take on the job – in fact, he had asked for it – but the prospect put a new face on the situation. It raised the obvious question: Why, if all that were so – if the enterprise were to be a failure from the start – was there any sense in starting it? "Ah," the Lord said, "you do not get the point. There is a Remnant there that you know nothing about. They are obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best he can. They need to be encouraged and braced up because when everything has gone completely to the dogs, they are the ones who will come back and build up a new society; and meanwhile, your preaching will reassure them and keep them hanging on. Your job is to take care of the Remnant, so be off now and set about it."



Isaiah's Job
by Albert Jay Nock

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/nock3b.html

Aratus
01-01-2013, 04:16 PM
yesterday was roughly and precisely the 150 year mark since the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation!
The NY Times has been running a blog that looks at each day that was 150 years ago during our Civil War...